Many of the recipes seem a little outdated now, but I doubt I'd have taken to the foods featured in Supper even in 1969 when it was first published, because I was just learning to live on my own and to eat rice and vegetables. Our ferial eating in those days was sparser of meat and wine than RFC could have imagined, and Diet for a Small Planet was the go-to cookbook. It would be another ten or fifteen years before I bought my first leg of lamb.
Nowadays I am well supplied with recipes for most everything I could possibly want to cook, but Capon's next suggestion sounds so strange and appealing that I think I will have to try it eventually. If I had to choose between meat and butter, two foods at the top of my list of culinary loves, I guess I'm just sensible enough to choose meat, and when RFC tells me I can capture its "heart and soul" in my kitchen, I can't resist his encouragement to create something of which he also claims, "...you will find yourself whittling off little pieces to dissolve on your tongue at odd times of the day."
I'll just give you the whole recipe here, because though we no doubt can find a version online, I naturally like the style of this one. It will be my last "meaty" post on this book, because in my church we are beginning our Lenten fast from meat very soon, and it's time for me to turn the page.
HOMEMADE MEAT GLAZE(Meat Extract)Take the strainerful of bones and scraps [from which you have made the stock] and put them back into the stockpot. Add any scraps of meat you have around: poultry, pork, veal -- even leftover hamburger -- just stay away from lamb and ham. Meat extract can, of course, be made from the used bones alone, but anything that brings more natural gelatin to the pot is welcome. Cover everything deeply with cold water, adding no salt at all, and boil for two or three hours more.
That done, strain once again, this time into a large saucepan. Discard the bones. (They have been worked to death. Even the dog will look down his nose at them now.)
Boil the contents of the pan hard, skimming the froth from the top now and then, until the liquid is drastically reduced. When it is down to about a pint, transfer it to a smaller pan and boil on, over slightly reduced heat. Continue boiling until it reaches the consistency of a thick, blackish-brown syrup (half a cup, give or take a little). Pour this into a heatproof jar, cool, and refrigerate.
You now have, perhaps for the first time in your life, real meat extract -- one of nature's marvels. It is, of course, highly concentrated gelatin, but it has been imbued with the heart and soul of meat. Its taste is beautiful. Moreover, in spite of the fact that no speck of salt went into all those quarts of water the second time around, it is salted to perfection. Its consistency is, admittedly, a little forbidding; It is not unlike a young and tender shoe heel. Refrigerated, it will keep in this state for weeks; but, obligingly enough, it melts at the temperature of the mouth. If you are any lover of food at all, you will find yourself whittling off little pieces to dissolve on your tongue at odd times of the day.
Use it ad lib. Its general effect is to give a sauce soul and substance without overpowering the proper flavor of the dish. Experiment. It improves almost anything. A tablespoonful melted in warm Hollandaise imparts a certain roundness and resonance to what is sometimes an excessively light and lemony sauce. A piece dropped on top of a hot fried egg (plus a dash of Tabasco, if you are up to it) is delightful. And in the form of Colbert Butter, it is the perfect accompaniment to steaks, chops, fish, or poultry -- not to mention a piece of matzoh at three in the afternoon.
9 comments:
My daughter and daughter in law both cook this way. I should be but I find I just grab what is fast instead of making cooking a delight.
I like all of the things that you have learned through the years.
How interesting! Adam used to make something he called a "master sauce" that he kept in a small jar in the frig, and added to it at times. Not as thick and portentous as Capon's stuff, but a fascinating idea!
You reminded me of Diet for a Small Planet. I remember my home economics teacher sharing that with us. I'm going to find it again.
What is it about his writing that is so rich? It reminds me of the image in Psalms of the oil being poured over Aaron's head and down his beard, or David's cup overflowing with good things. I can smell what RFC is writing about; I can taste it. He has a rare gift!
I was just telling my girls only 3 more days of consuming meat...then Great Lent, then Pascha! Maybe we'll have a lamb roast to celebrate Pascha and then I'll pick up these savory recipes. Many Russians in our church make "holodetz" which is jellied meat, but they often use pig feet! (yuck)
I had that (small planet) cookbook once... I can't remember who I gave it to now... hmmm... well anyway, what memories!
Meatfare is almost upon us! May it be blessed! :)
Just resting from gardening for a moment...I see I will have to come back to this one...It makes an interesting diary to track life through the times of different cookbooks ( or lack of them) ...and different ( deepening) understandings of the sacred nature of feeding and feasting self and others.
I too would prefer Meat to Butter. Its more healthy I suppose.
I make beef bone stock quite often, but never thought to reduce it down to a thick gelatin. Could we almost call it natural beef bouillon? Mmmmm. I can sometimes eat that a pinch at a time. I enjoyed this post.
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